By Addison Mason and Kate Tortolini 

This week’s student senate meeting featured a visit from Heather Boujoulian, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and RWU’s interim president, Dr. Brian Williams, who will be stepping in when President Miaoulis retires at the end of the academic year Senators and students in attendance asked Dr. Williams questions about his plans for the foreseeable future of the school, and what an interim presidency will look like. 

Dr. Williams has been at RWU for 10 years, beginning as the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing. Under Miaoulis, he served as the Chief of Staff, and “very much helped the President lead,” said Dr. Williams. He explained his role is simply to lead the university in the transitional period of finding a new President. He has experience observing the leadership duties of President Miaoulis and the late RWU President Donald Farish. Additionally, Dr. Williams has noticed the best course of action is to listen to the campus community and find out what is needed, “I would love for this to be a period of stability, of really just focusing on community together.”

Dr. Williams has many goals for his presidency, including executing plans and keeping an eye on the long-term projects of the university. Alongside this, he wants to balance his time not just in the Administration Building, but also across campus. He announced plans to have one-on-one consultations with faculty in their offices, making his presence on campus known. He also highlighted that this is the fourth institution where he has worked at a higher level, and that he is “really glad to bring some of those ideas forward.”

The timeframe of the interim presidency is in the hands of the Board, and they are unsure what that might look like. However, Boujoulian touches on the importance of an interim president to maintain campus stability, “The way we’re looking at Brian stepping into the role is not much as a placeholder. He has the full support of the board, and we expect him to execute on all full presidential authority.” The Board wants to listen to the campus to find what is needed. Furthermore, they will be creating a committee to start creating the job description and searching for the next President.

In the Q&A, a student asked about the furlough and whether it was still occurring. Dr. Williams explained that this previous fiscal year was a difficult one, and the furlough was a hard decision. He said that some of the faculty have already done their furlough, and others have not. “The administration is working with each of the three affected unions and employees,” said Dr. Williams. He also said that the next fiscal year’s budget is already built, and “I don’t see us and don’t want to go through this again personally.”

Currently, the Interim President explained that he is in a listening phase between his transition before June 1st. “I’m meeting with a lot of different divisions across the university, and I’m honored to be here because I really want to understand what you need from us.” Dr. Williams said.